


And For This Was I Trained a Prince

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Lies, Misdirection, and Terrible Truth [17]
Category: Mythology - Fandom, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Crossover, GFY, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-12
Updated: 2012-11-12
Packaged: 2017-11-18 12:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/561287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Bind him over." He looks away from Thanos, over to the heroes who are looking confused, except for Thor. He ignores his brother, and meets Barton's eyes. A fitting symmetry. "Bind him over to Agent Barton, and let his life be forfeit to what justice he sees fit."</p>
            </blockquote>





	And For This Was I Trained a Prince

They are waiting on him, all of them. His allies are waiting on him to declare the life forfeit, his enemies waiting for some sign of what they'd thought madness to return. Barton waiting on him to provide a reason, an excuse, for the archer to loose the arrow on him. All balanced and waiting on him.

He does not like it, but he was raised for this, trained for this. To be a prince, a king. Provider of justice, the one who all things wait upon for completion. So he will be what he must be, and let the others think as they will.

Loki pauses, looking down at Thanos, banishing all expression from his face. "Bind him over." He looks away from Thanos, over to the heroes who are looking confused, except for Thor. He ignores his brother, and meets Barton's eyes. A fitting symmetry. "Bind him over to Agent Barton, and let his life be forfeit to what justice he sees fit."

"What?" Barton looks surprised, and none too happy. His bow comes up, aimed unerringly at Loki's face. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What I was trained to do." Loki smiles, sharp-edged and unwelcoming. "Are your leaders so distant, then, that they do not dispense justice themselves?" He knows the answer to that question, but it will amuse him to make them think he does not. To see what reaction it elicits.

He can hear the echo of Barton's anger in the snarl of Thanos behind him, and Loki cannot turn to pay any attention to the one who'd thought he'd control Loki. If he turns now, the arrow will be loosed, and he will have to once again soothe ruffled feathers and play the diplomat when he does not wish to.

"Actually, they don't, not personally." That's Stark, who's relaxed enough to flip up the blank mask of his armor. Watching Loki as closely as Barton is, though he doesn't seem poised to attack. "That's what courts and judges are for."

Loki snorts softly, listening to the sounds behind him as his command is carried out. Even if he is not their prince, their king, he is their friend, and this is his justice to command. He had known this from the beginning, but had not liked to think on it.

"Then take him to your courts and your judges. All I have done is deliver him to you - have had his power bound in a way you are not yet capable, so he does not destroy you or use you to replace his shattered army." Not all of Thanos' tools or armies have been broken, but in his desire for revenge, he came to break Loki himself. More fool him. "His sentence is for you to choose."

Thanos is brought, his armor stripped and weapons taken, and sent to his knees in front of Barton. Anat's smile is no more comfortable to behold than Loki's own. She holds out a delicate chain that seems to be connected to nothing, and looks as flimsy as any woman's necklace. That it is more than that needs not to be said to be understood.

Stepping away without turning his back, Loki meets Barton's gaze easily. "He is the one who wished the Tesseract, Agent Barton. He is the one who made that staff given to me. Think on that, Agent Barton."


End file.
